The Time is Now: Motivating Yourself for the Future

It’s easy to wake up to a job you hate, and think that someday you’ll be happy. It’s easy to charge another bill to your credit card, thinking that someday you’ll pay it off. It’s easy to dream of visiting a tropical beach, thinking someday you’ll make the reservation. But what isn’t easy is realizing that your somedays can become your reality, given the proper motivation.

Dreaming is easy. And perhaps for some people, the dream is enough to get them through their life. But for many people, the dream only makes the reality that much more real, and that much more unfulfilling. Motivating yourself for the future can be hard, because while dreams can fuel motivation, it takes a lot more than a big dream to make a big change. The time is now to make such changes.

Figure out the Pieces you have to Put Together to Get to the Big PictureIt usually takes a series of accomplishments and work to get to your final dream. You don’t start as a fry cook and next become a CEO because of a dream. You start as a fry cook and work hard and work your way through the ranks before becoming the CEO. The individual steps you have to take to get to the big picture are much easier to motivate yourself towards accomplishing than just looking at the end goal.

Mapping out what smaller accomplishments you have to meet in order to achieve your end goal will give you direction for what you must do in order to follow your dreams. Having a map will make it easier to identify when you’re stuck in one place for too long. If you’re a fry cook now, work your way towards the front of house, then towards top of the house.

Focus on the Small Pieces Rather than the Big PictureOnce you have your map together, or list of goals, or whatever you decide to call the plan for your future goals, it’s going to be significantly easier to meet the goals. Focus on meeting the first goal, and it will be a lot less intimidating than trying to make a lot of changes at the same time.

Small goals are manageable, and measurable. Each goal completed brings you a step closer to your ultimate goal, and it is much easier to motivate yourself for baby steps to start rather than tackling the entire marathon. Once you’ve completed a few goals, you’ll find it a lot easier to motivate yourself to continue meeting small goals before completing the ultimate goal.

Realize that Future Dreams Coming True Rely on Dedication to Making Them Come True NowSure, it is likely that eventually we will make more money, eventually we will have a bigger home, eventually we will have smaller bills. Whatever your goal, there is a good chance that with time you will reach those eventuallys naturally. Making them happen, truly happening, not because they were the natural progression of life, but because you wanted them to happen, takes dedication and hard work.

If you know that dreams coming true require time, and work, and dedication, they will come true all the sooner. Meeting goals doesn’t happen without work. The time is now to make them happen and make your dreams your reality.

Don’t Lose Motivation with FailureWhen you encounter a setback, it is easy to lose motivation. It can make you wonder why you’re even bothering to try. But failure only happens because you tried, and should be used as a learning experience. Don’t let failure win, use it as inspiration to try again and succeed. People who don’t fail are the people who don’t try, the people who don’t challenge themselves, and the people who will ultimately look up to you in awe once you achieve success.

It’s okay to take some time following a failure before getting back up on the horse. You can use this time to be disappointed, but once that phase has passed it should be used as an opportunity to dissect what happened, why it happened, and how you can prevent it from happening in the future. That way, the next time you try you’ll be prepared with new knowledge that will help you to succeed.

Don’t Lose Motivation with SuccessIt’s common to lose motivation if you fail, but really some people lose motivation with success. These are the people who settle on good enough. The people who decide why lose ten pounds, five is a good enough goal. The people who earn a promotion, and decide to take a break for a little while before working towards their next promotion. Success can give you a sense of accomplishment that can kill your motivation towards the next step.

That’s not to say successes shouldn’t be celebrated, but they shouldn’t be used as a reason to take a break from accomplishing your ultimate goal. Learn everything you can from a success, and use it to help you along the next leg of the journey. Those who don’t stop working towards their goal are the ones who not only make it to their goal, but they make it there fast and are able to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Start Now and the Future Will Be that Much CloserIt only takes a small step to work towards accomplishing the goals you always dreamed were in the distant future. The time is now to identify those steps, and to not let anything get in your way. Learn from your failures, and don’t let one success inhibit your motivation towards future successes. Sure, it’ll take work, but think of how much more enjoyable your life will be when you have the job you want, and are earning the money that lets you live the life you want to have.

The future doesn’t have to be distant. The future begins as soon as you motivate yourself towards it.